In gun firing close-in weapon systems, used for ship protection, for example, the target is typically a small, hard to defeat, oncoming missile whose closing velocity is vectorially added to that of the defending projectile. As oncoming missile velocities increase, the projectile approaches a limiting velocity known as the shatter velocity where solid penetrator type defending projectiles essentially fail at target impact. In such instances, actual intercept contact is made, but minimal damage results because the projectile shatters rather than penetrating for optimum impact and damage because of the high combined target impact velocity. To maintain the energy levels for energy transfer with deep the impact velocity should be reduced to below the shatter velocity. Until now, there has been no system for continuously controlling projectile impact velocity so as not to exceed a predetermined shatter velocity in a defensive gun firing weapon system. This is especially true for high fire rate gun systems.